Honda’s fastest car a slow seller in Australia

The rarest car on sale isn’t a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche.

David McCowen

06:2609 May 2017

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Honda's fastest car a slow seller in Australia

The most exclusive car on Australian roads isn't a European supercar, a limited-edition Rolls-Royce or hand-made Bentley.

It is a Honda.

Just one Australian customer has taken delivery of the new Honda NSX since the hybrid supercar first arrived locally in July 2016.

Priced from $420,000 plus on-road costs, the NSX is worlds away from Honda's usual territory, operating in a rarefied sphere home to the likes of Porsche and Ferrari. While those brands offer proven if predictable performance cars, the NSX's combination of a relatively common badge and unusual hybrid driveline seem to have struggled to capture the imagination of supercar buyers.

It's not as though supercar sales are slowing in Australia.

Lamborghini registered a dozen new examples of the Huracan and Aventador in April alone, Ferrari delivered 58 cars in the first four months of the year and McLaren has racked up record numbers – nearly 10 sales per month – on the back of its new Sports Series.

So the solitary NSX, a white example delivered to Melbourne collector Allen Cheng, seems like a poor performance from the brand.

Honda Australia director Stephen Collins says this is not the case.

"At this stage we have five or six orders," he says.

"It's more a case of getting production out of the US.

"For us it's never been a numbers game... we'll deliver more of our orders later this year as supply comes through."

Collins says the NSX's $420,000 asking price is reasonable when compared with international markets.

There are three examples of the NSX in Australia, one press demonstrator, one corporate display car and Mr Cheng's white example. While that number will grow late this year, the NSX is likely to remain a remarkably rare car on Australian roads.

In that regard, it looks as though the hybrid machine will sit in a similar position to Lexus' V10-powered LFA supercar, a highly-regarded model that sold in much smaller numbers than Ferrari's equivalent 599 GTB at home and abroad.